Current headlines about extortion of businesses by criminal gangs and fraudulent practices being uncovered at state entities, highlight the need for more intensive anti-corruption laws, systems and practices at every level in this society.
They are the latest reminders of a long, shameful history of bribery, cronyism, nepotism and patronage, pre-dating even the attainment of Independence in 1962, that has drained this country’s wealth and hampered its development.
The extortion of businesses, which has evolved into a multi-million-dollar criminal enterprise — the Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry (JCC) estimates it costs T&T millions of dollars a day — had its genesis decades ago with criminal infiltration into the forerunners to the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP).
Failure by successive governments to exorcise “ghost gangs” from state-run temporary employment programmes has allowed criminals to illegally enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers. That illegal practice has evolved and expanded, with small and medium businesses and contractors now targeted by gangsters demanding “jobs” for their minions and protection money.
Decades of corruption in social welfare programmes have also been exposed in recent years, including a high incidence of fraud and stolen social welfare cheques, abuse of the Food Support Programme by gainfully employed individuals and people who reside abroad, as well as recent allegations of fraud and possible money laundering in a 2012 programme intended to assist needy children.
Under the watch of Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke, who has been vocal in his stance against corruption, there have been arrests and charges against Licensing Division employees and even the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has been under scrutiny for fraudulent activities.
These are just the latest manifestations of a culture of corruption and crime that has deep roots in this nation. Repeated failures to weed out practices that have surfaced time and again with scandalous and costly consequences, have created a breeding ground for domestic and transnational violence and crime.
In too many instances, there has been high-level political facilitation.
More than four decades later, this nation still struggles to shake off the taint of the DC-9 scandal in which the late John O’Halloran, a high-ranking member of the PNM administration of Dr Eric Williams, was implicated. There were also severe repercussions from the Caroni Racing Complex project which was halted amidst alleged corruption.
In the 1990s, the Piarco International Airport corruption cases, regarded as the biggest in this country’s history and the longest on trial, saw allegations of corruption, bid-rigging, kickbacks, bid inflation, political interference and fraud levelled against prominent UNC financiers and former government officials.
All of these should have served as cautionary tales to the legislators, policymakers and society leaders who have emerged since then about the corrosive effects of corruption.
But it seems lessons have not been learnt, as corruption continues to fester where transparency and accountability are absent or inadequate.
T&T has been seriously harmed by white-collar criminals, including some powerful figures who misuse their democratic power for private gains.
And the victims are ordinary citizens who are regularly robbed of their rights and freedoms to enjoy even basic services.
The question is whether anyone currently in a position of power and influence will demonstrate the courage and conviction to be a corruption buster. A strong cohort of such individuals is needed to clean up all this mess.